Aspiration pneumonia is a disease that is contracted due to bacteria or the like, adhering to food, saliva, and the like, and as a result of a deficiency in neurotransmitters in the brain to cause reductions in a cough reflex and a swallowing reflex, the entry of the food, the saliva, and the like into the lung through a trachea. The entry of the saliva and the like into the lung without the person noticing as described above is referred to as silent aspiration.
As one of coping techniques for the prevention of the aspiration pneumonia, encouraging the cough reflex is considered to be effective. As a conventional technique for encouraging the cough reflex, there is known a technique for implanting electrodes, to each of which a lead wire is connected, into a trachea of an animal, generating electric pulses in the electrodes, and selectively stimulating the trachea of the animal (see Japanese Patent Application No. JP-A 2005-253838, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all that it teaches and for all purposes).